Beyond the Beltway: John Bolton Not Selling Like He Used to

The editors of the Sun Herald, the leading paper for Biloxi-Gulfport and South Mississippi, certainly are able to see good sense through the war hype.
Here is some smart commentary about the “costs” of America’s very full plate of wars:

Costly Endeavours
The United States is currently planning war games with South Korea, which would seem to indicate that the military option is on the table for that country. Saber-rattling is now getting louder against Iran with the Israelis saying that the United States military has planned targeted air strikes there and that a military option is now seriously considered. John Bolton in a TV interview said we have a new axis of evil consisting of Syria, Iran and Venezuela. We are going to have to find a lot of money to put all these ideas into action. It definitely feels like us against the world, and I for one do not believe we can afford it.
Time to rethink what our role in the world should be.

Listen up Washington. John Bolton is not selling like he used to.— Steve Clemons

Marcus, I’ll give you two — Russia and China. Russia is Iran’s chief arms supplier, and is also helpful in the nuclear energy field. China has extensive economic investments in Iran, particularly in gas fields, and China is a major recipient of Iran petroleum. Both countries, particularly China, have benefited from the sanctions, signing new investment and commercial contracts in the place of western countries.
Militarily, Iran is very self-sufficient and doesn’t need much support. They have an extensive military capability. Particularly dangerous are their cruise missiles, submarines (3) and mines.
The down-side of attacking Iran has been well-covered and I won’t repeat it. It’s extensive. I wouldn’t be surprised at all, years from now, if it came out that all the while the US was threatening Iran publicly, the adults were assuring Iran that there would not be any attack.
Regarding the Non-Aligned Movement, 118 nations, they have consistently supported Iran’s nuclear program, which is completely legal and even encouraged by the NPT. The actions being taken against Iran are purely political and have no basis in law or in anything else except politics.
Thanks for giving me another opportunity to provide TWN readers with the truth about this matter.

The NAM who you seem comfortable throwing your lot in with, are also against any interference with North Korean Nuke tests or their Nuke Proliferation, surely you do not ho;d the foolish idea, that every state should be allowed to deploy Nukes,as long as Israel and the US have them, Tell me it ain`t so,joe.

Don Bacon,can you name one country that would lend material support (anyone,anything) beyond signing a protest letter.
I highly doubt it.
There would be some non-state actors , small even medium(Hizzbula) sized miltias, but not one nation state – that was my point.

Marcus, you get an “F” for not reading my comments, which clearly explained that most of the world supports Iran — the 118-nation NAM, China and all of east Asia, Iran’s neighbors, and others. The only enemies Iran has are six nations, led Israel and the US. The “three-percenters” — there being about 200 nations in the world.
Now if you fail again I’m going to have to keep you after school. Even nadine gets it eventually. Okay, bad example.

If Iran were to be bombed, there would not even be one solitary Nation that would side with her,there might be few who criticize the action, but not one would stick their neck out for her.
This demonstates the complete isolation and moral bankruptcy of the regime in place there.
So forget about the neo-cons,AIPAC,Israel ,(jews in general) some vague corporate conspiracy, debauched Sunni dictaorships,Iranian ex-pats,Hilary Clinton or anything else and put the blame where it belongs – On the iranian regime.
If the US and or Israel and or Germany,france and Canada the UK, or some other coalition of the willing,use the last resort of a military strike,fact is, their will not be one Country that will ally with Iran.
Geez, even hitler had a couple of Allies.

Cost? You’re worried about cost, when as a matter of fact only about one out of four working Americans (including military) actually work for government, plus of course all those contract people building ships, tanks, guns and munitions, plus the contract support at various military installations and wars around the world, plus those people working in various ways to satisfy government requirements like accountants and tax specialists, bringing the total workers for governments, on way or another, up to about forty percent of the workforce, which, when you cost out all these items and also factor in that portion of the deficit needed to pay interest on past government costs, the annual deficit is almost $1.5tn, or almost five grand per man, woman and child, and the national debt is about $12tn, or approaching forty grand per person, you’re worried about cost when John Bolton can’t get to sleep nights worrying about a Syrian, an Iranian or a Venezuelan barging into his bedroom?
Cheeez, SpoofDetecto
(this is a test)

The thing that kills me is that the argument against Bolton is one of cost. As in:
—————————————-
We are going to have to find a lot of money to put all these ideas into action. It definitely feels like us against the world, and I for one do not believe we can afford it.
—————————————-
Can’t anybody just say that it would be WRONG and STUPID?

Go John.
The US actually has a new Axis of Evil: Debt, Unemployment and Corruption.
The US should ratchet back its foreign involvement. “…a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification.” — George Washington’s Farewell Address, originally published in September 1796.

Not sure why Syria would be in any axis of evil. I could only assume it’s because of its ties with Hizballah and it’s new found relationship with Turkey. The latter being more dangerous to neo-con ME objectives b/c Syria no longer needs the US with respect to peace objectives (return of the Golan). Attacking Syria does not serve any strateigic US purpose. It does, however, serve an Israeli purpose b/c attacking Syria would help to open Lebanon to Israeli interests, something that the neo-cons want desperately.

From Paul Norheim’s comment:
“Are the editors of the Sun Herald “hyperventilating”, Steve?”
No Paul, in my opinion, it’s possible that, unlike the rest of the rightwing corporate controlled mainstream media, the editors of the Sun Herald MAY be finally starting to THINK FOR THEMSELVES, because these same editors also wrote:
“We are going to have to find a lot of money to put all these ideas into action. It definitely feels like us against the world, and I for one do not believe we can afford it.
Time to rethink what our role in the world should be.”
Hmmmmm, could it be that the Sun Herald’s editors might be realizing that if war is declared against Iran, the MILITARY DRAFT will get reinstated? Keep in mind: any way you slice it, WARS NEED TROOPS — and in a case like Iran, you will certainly need HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF THEM! And remember: like his former bosses Dumbya Bush and “Five Deferment Dick” Cheney, John Bolton is a NOTORIOUS CHICKENHAWK — he was able to avoid getting sent to Vietnam when he was military age.

Good sense through the war hype…
but:
“Saber-rattling is now getting louder against Iran with the Israelis
saying that the United States military has planned targeted air
strikes there and that a military option is now seriously
considered.”
Are the editors of the Sun Herald “hyperventilating”, Steve?

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